نشریه جغرافیا و برنامه ریزی محیطی
سال سی و چهارم شماره 4 (پیاپی 92، زمستان 1402)

The water streams branching from Zayandehroud in the city of Isfahan are called Madi and they are among the unique features of the structure of this city. In the past, they were used to irrigate agricultural lands, but today, with the change in their function, they have lost their past identity and efficiency. The expansion of activities and fundamental changes in the urban structure and elements have caused the loss of the importance and identity of Madi issues in the city of Isfahan. The current research has been carried out with the aim of identifying the Madi problems of Regions 1 and 3 of Isfahan and solutions to organize them. The method of this research is descriptive-analytical. In this regard, the existing Madi problems of these two areas were identified by field sampling and using a satellite positioning device. Then, the perceived problems were categorized and solutions related to their solution were presented. According to the conducted studies, the length of the Madi network of Region 1 is 10921 meters (10.9 km) and the Madi of Cheshme Niasserm is the longest Madi of this region with 3624 meters. In Region 3, the length of the Madi is 10,921.59 meters (10.9 km) and the Niaseram spring Madi is the longest one in this area with 3,624.72 meters. The results showed that Madies of Region 1 have 33 types of problems, the most important of which are bed slope correction and cleaning. In Region 3, 18 problems have been identified, of which dredging and cleaning are the main ones. Organizing the green space around the properties and using urban furniture and creating a space for the residents around the properties are among the most important management solutions for organizing the properties in these two regions.

The current research has been conducted to investigate the current situation and the conditions affecting the effective performance and development of ecotourism accommodation in the rural areas of the Zarivar wetland area of Marivan City as a pristine and popular area of rural tourism in Kurdistan province. Providing practical solutions appropriate to the existing situation to sustain these businesses and the effectiveness and functional success of the ecotourism residence in the study area are the main functions the study seeks to offer. The current applied research has been implemented using a descriptive-analytical method based on data collection in the theoretical part with documentary studies and in the survey part by conducting semi-structured interviews, distribution of questionnaires, and direct observation in line with the analysis of the existing situation with a quantitative-qualitative nature. A Delphi group (28 people from all the stakeholders and those involved in the development of tourism and ecotourism, selected in a targeted manner) has been selected. The analysis of the data in the qualitative part using the fundamental theory technique and in the quantitative part using the path analysis test showed that, in the sector of general development, the weakness of planning, policy-making, and management (both tourism and rural economic development) as the most effective component, the inappropriateness of the business environment of the region, border security management, the weakness of amenities, accommodation and services, the weakness of information, education and advertising, the instability of the wetland ecosystem, the lack of capital, the socio-cultural weaknesses of the local community, the weakness of the landscape, the appearance and architecture of the villages in the wetland area, the weakness of attractions in the supply sector and the inadequacies related to the needs and performance of tourists in the demand sector were the most effective factors. Moreover, organizing the tourism system of the region and numerous inadequacies and weaknesses in the form of institutional management and organization components, economic effectiveness, education (the most effective component), marketing and demand attraction, environmental management, learning and core expertise, design and architecture including the three dimensions of policy and planning, empowerment of human resources and empiricism and central creativity in the specialized sector and field of ecotourism, were identified as factors and conditions affecting the development and effectiveness of ecotourism accommodation and their sustainability and value addition.

Determining the optimal location for the construction of the hospital will increase citizens' satisfaction with health services and increase their quality of life. The aim of the present study is to determine the optimal location for the construction of a hospital in the second district of Tehran’s metropolis. For this purpose, an integrated methodology including GIS, SWARA weighting method, and COPRAS ranking method has been presented. SWARA and COPRAS multi-criteria decision-making methods are among the best methods and have received less attention in the field of determining the optimal location of the hospital in combination with the GIS. The results of the weighting method showed that the criteria of distance to existing hospitals and the geospatial distribution of PM2.5 particles are the most and least important criteria in the decision-making process of the optimal location of the hospital, respectively. The results of geospatial modeling showed that the southwestern parts of the district have a very high potential for hospital construction and almost 48% of the region has the potential to build a hospital. In other words, there is no spatial justice for the citizens of half of the region in using the medical services of the hospitals. The results of ranking candidate sites showed that sites 5 and 6 were the most suitable places to build a new hospital in the second district. According to the research results, the weighting method used has the same accuracy as the fashionable weighting method of the analytic hierarchical process, despite the executive and computational complexity.

Global cities are emerging phenomena that act as connecting places of the global economic network in the context of the global economy and have caused the formation of the space of currents and the emergence of new power centers in the political geography map of the world. In this regard, domestic organizations and institutions are effective as factors (actors) in the promotion of cities from regional to global dimensions. This study aims to identify and rank institutions and organizations that are effective in promoting the city of Isfahan to an Islamic Global City. The current research, with a future studies approach, identifies the most important factors affecting the transformation of Isfahan into an Islamic Global City and identifies key players in this field. This research is practical in terms of its purpose and the dominant approach is the descriptive-analytical method. Environmental scanning and Delphi techniques were used to identify variables and indicators, and structural analysis was used in Mic Mac software and the Mector model for data analysis. According to the findings of the research, the most important domestic players include the Ministry of Economy, the Stock Exchange Organization, the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology, the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, the Cultural Heritage Organization, and the Ministry of Energy. According to the evaluations carried out in Mector software, the most influential institutions of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, the Ministry of Economy, and the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology were 29 and 15 percent. On the other hand, the lowest amount of influence is related to the Stock Exchange Organization and the Ministry of Energy (-34%), which shows the ability of these two institutions to influence other actors.

The increasing volume and dimensions of spatial data have made self-organizing neural networks a prominent tool for analyzing large and multi-dimensional datasets. Clustering, an approach for extracting knowledge from big data, aims to group similar data into clusters. This research focused on clustering socio-economic data of census blocks associated with urban sustainable development using self-organizing neural networks with and without spatial parameters referred to as SOM and Geo-SOM, respectively. Both algorithms employ the same clustering process but differ in the inclusion of spatial parameters, specifically the geographic coordinates of block centroids, in the Geo-SOM algorithm. The SOM and Geo-SOM algorithms were trained and applied to cluster the data. The resulting clusters exhibited distinct dissimilarities, demonstrating that clustering census block data solely based on non-spatial attributes leads to heterogeneous and incongruent clusters, whereas incorporating spatial parameters yields homogeneous and congruent clusters. Evaluation of the results using Silhouette coefficient indicated that Geo-SOM outperformed SOM in clustering the data with average Silhouette coefficients of -0.02 and 0.27 for SOM and Geo-SOM, respectively. Comparison of the outcomes highlighted the positive impact of incorporating spatial parameters on clustering socio-economic data.

Rural living has been the most usual way of life all through history until the last two decades. Rural architecture, in its pure local sense, is among the sustainable features of rural areas that have undergone noticeable changes recently. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of vernacular architecture on sustainable rural development. This research is practical and descriptive-analytical based on the survey method. Data were collected using both library and field methods. Participants were from two groups of residents and experts. Thirty experts and 354 residents were surveyed based on the Cochran formula. Nine villages were selected using the cluster-spatial metod. Then, the household proportion questionnaires were distributed. The results indicate that in the sight of both local residents and experts with the frequency of 25.60% and 33.34% most important obstacle to vernacular architecture rural development is residents’ tendency toward modernity. The most crucial solution to this issue according to the local residents is the cultivation and use of local knowledge (with a frequency of 16.5%). However, experts consider creating desirable facilities in villages (with a frequency of 30%) as the most important factor. Regarding house architecture changes, the highest average for both groups (3.6 and 3.63) is related to the architecture change toward modernization. Results of the one-sample t-test revealed that, regarding environmental aspects, the local inhabitants’ sample average was 3.27 and the experts’ average was 3.98. Regarding economic aspects, the local inhabitants’ sample average was 3.50 and the experts’ average was 3.63; regarding social aspects, the local inhabitants’ sample average was 3.70 and the experts’ average was 3.83. Thus, this research suggests that rural architecture strongly affects sustainable rural development. Regarding environmental aspects, the local inhabitants’ sample average was 3.27 and the experts’ average was 3.98. With respect to economic aspects, the local inhabitants’ sample average was 3.50 and the experts’ average was 3.63. Considering social aspects, the local inhabitants’ sample average was 3.70 and the experts’ average was 3.83. Therefore, considering that the results are above the average (3), it can be said that native architecture has a great impact on sustainable rural development from the point of view of both groups.